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He Lost His Wife and Baby in the Gas Chamber and Spent Six Decades Exposing Nazis
From Auschwitz Number 98288 to Britain’s Fiercest Anti-Fascist
Leon Greenman was born in London’s East End on 18 December 1910 to a Jewish family. His father died when Leon was two, so he grew up with his grandfather, a bookbinder. Life was simple and full of hard work.
Leon trained as a barber for a steady trade and took up amateur boxing, soon making a name for himself in the ring. Money was tight, but his steady work ethic and clear-headed outlook would later help him face hardships few could imagine.
In 1935, Leon married Esther Van Dam, a Dutch woman he had met during a visit to the Netherlands. The couple eventually settled in Rotterdam, where there is their son Barney who was born in 1940. Leon remained a British citizen, and registered with the British consulate in Rotterdam to ensure that both he and his family would be protected in the event of a conflict.
In 1938 as the threat of war loomed, Leon planned to leave the Netherlands with his wife Esther (Else) and settle back in England. However, they heard Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announce the Munich agreement, declaring “peace for our time.’
